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Always the Happy Ending

Why do almost all popular films, novels, TV shows, and just everything in the world of entertainment always seem to follow the same basic structure? Always followed by the saying...

And They Lived Happily Ever After- I want this tattoo in latin "et vixerunt et semper postquam feliciter" | Wall quotes, Vinyl wall quotes, Quotes

First, we get an introduction to the characters' lives then BAM a problem. Next, we're taken through their rollercoaster of a journey and yay, the problem gets solved and they live happily ever after. Right there, I just summed up about hundreds of different pieces of entertainment. Yet, even with this repetitive story line, us, the audience, is almost always left satisfied wanting more but why is that if we can predict what's going to happen? How is something so predictable and repetitive still so entertaining? I think the answer to this question is that the audience likes getting the happy ending because by the end of the movie, novel, or whatever it is, we feel as if we are part of the story. While feeling like we're part of the story, we're taken out of our own stressful lives, just for a moment and placed into an imaginary yet stress-free zone. The way the creator structures the piece of entertainment makes us want the character to win. Ultimately, the piece becomes quite personal as it begins to play with our own emotions. I believe this is also why the happy, predictable structure is so appealing to its audience. Personally, I know anytime I go to the movie theater and watch a film with a happy ending, I leave feeling happy. On the other hand, when a movie doesn't follow the predictable happy ending, I leave feeling unsettled and almost disturbed. With this in mind, is the basic, predictable story structure all that bad? I guess it really just depends on who you're asking. 

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